


Sleeping Atlantis

by Lenore



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Fairy Tales, First Kiss, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-06
Updated: 2007-07-06
Packaged: 2017-10-13 02:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenore/pseuds/Lenore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney rescues himself and everyone in the city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleeping Atlantis

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com/profile)[**sheafrotherdon**](http://sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com/) has a delightful [Kissing Meme](http://sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com/144327.html) going on over at her LJ, with 68 John/Rodney kisses and still climbing. This is mine.

Rodney waited three days for the expected rescue—three _long_ days of playing pet scientist to a crackpot alien kidnapper with a flair for dramatic declarations. If Rodney heard _you serve me now, Learned One, accept your fate_ one more time, he was going to…well, take matters into his own hands and rescue himself.

One dismantled radio, three matches and two balls of tin foil later, Rodney stepped into the event horizon of the stargate, the alien yelling after him, "You will be return! Heed my words, Learned One. Only I possess the knowledge to restore your people. You will be miiiiiine!"

Rodney snorted, _crackpot_ , and then he was back in the gateroom on Atlantis, wobbly with relief, wondering if the Marines would laugh if he dropped to his knees and kissed the floor, because oh God, _home_!

His elation was sadly short-lived, as such moments tended to be in the Pegasus galaxy. He glanced around, ready to demand professions of being glad to see him if none were freely forthcoming, and discovered that he was the only conscious one in the place.

Two Marines slumped on the floor, their P-90s resting idly beside them. The sound of snoring drifted down from the control room. Rodney tapped his radio, "Colonel Sheppard, come in. Dr. Weir? Anybody?" He rubbed the bridge of his nose, the beginnings of a headache stirring, and suddenly found himself thinking, rather unaccountably, "What would Sheppard do?"

The answer was fairly obvious, and Rodney sighed and leaned down and laid a quick one on the Marine nearest to hand, in a fit of Grimmsian voodoo thinking. Nothing, no reaction, and Rodney harrumphed, "Oh, sure. Why would it work for me? I'm not a rakish flyboy."

But then, the Marine's eyelids fluttered open, and he blinked at Rodney, both startled and confused.

Rodney put his hands on his hips. "Hey, it's not like it was good for me, either."

Voodoo thinking or not, Rodney wasn't one to argue with results, especially when he had a comatose city on his hands. When he'd woken everyone in the control room, he stopped by Elizabeth's office to deliver a respectful peck. She narrowed her eyes at him, the way she did when he'd accidentally blown up something, and he insisted hotly, "It's not my fault! But I'm fixing it, even though who knows what sorts of contagion I'm being exposed to in the process. Kissing three hundred people can not possibly be sanitary."

He stomped off, osculating his way down the corridor, thinking that it was just like this ridiculous excuse for a galaxy that a children's story would actually prove handy. If he found out that all they'd ever needed to do to defeat the Wraith was to douse them with water, he was going to be _seriously_ put out.

By the time he reached the mess hall, his lips were chapped and his back had a kink in it from stooping down. He muttered under his breath, "The next time I save this city, I'm doing it the old-fashioned way. With an algorithm."

The room was packed. Rodney had been abducted around lunchtime, and the crackpot alien must have…done whatever this was to keep anyone from coming after them. He sighed and tried to find some consolation knowing that a full-on smooch wasn't necessary to work his reviving mojo. It was very, _very_ little consolation, really. Rodney trudged over to the table on the far wall and went down the line with drive-by kisses, catching people randomly, on their elbows and shoulders and the backs of their heads.

One of the newly awakened junior geologists stared dumbfounded when Rodney continued his smooching spree at the next table.

"What?" Rodney demanded. "Have you never seen a kiss-and-rescue operation before?"

He moved on to other parts of the city once he was done, and eventually came across Teyla and Ronon, in the gym where they must have been sparring. He knelt down beside Teyla, his palms a little clammy, because, well, _Teyla_. He kissed her chastely on the cheek, trying to project a deferential air of, "I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, so please don't kick my ass."

She opened her eyes, and when her expression cleared, she smiled gently. "Thank you, Rodney. I believe I needed that."

"Um—yeah. I've just got to-—-" He gestured toward Ronon.

Teyla nodded serenely, as if this kind of thing really did happen all the time where she came from. Rodney stooped down and made quick work of waking Ronon, who lifted an eyebrow at him.

"So, you know that story about Sleeping Beauty?"

Ronon stared blankly.

Rodney sighed. "Never mind. I've got to pucker up and get back to the salt mines."

There was absolutely no conscious plan to save Sheppard for last. It was all the luck of the draw, Rodney insisted to himself. He checked the life signs detector and found the Colonel in the one place he would never have expected, the Colonel's own quarters. Rodney hopped into the transporter and strode briskly down the hall, and the door to Sheppard's room obligingly opened for him, as if Atlantis understood that he was on an important mission.

Rodney stuttered to a stop just inside the doorway. Sheppard lay asleep on his bed, curled on his side, utterly relaxed, his expression open, almost boyish even. Rodney tiptoed over and sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed, just watching for a long, long moment, because he wasn't an _idiot_. He knew he'd never get another chance like this.

"I thought maybe you were finally sick of me," he confided quietly, "and that's why you didn't come get me."

Sheppard didn't stir, and Rodney tried his best to commit this picture of him, so beautifully at peace, to memory, and then he leaned in. The professional thing would be to keep it strictly business, get in, get out, take nothing for himself, but, hey, still not an idiot. He closed his eyes, and then John's lips were right _there_ , warm and surprisingly soft beneath his. John sighed softly, and slid a hand into Rodney's hair, easing him closer, John's tongue licking lazily at Rodney's mouth.

When Rodney pulled back, all he could do was blink in confusion. Sheppard smiled up at him, sleepy and pleased looking, as if he totally approved of this method of being woken.

Clearly, Rodney had interrupted Sheppard while he was dreaming, a dream involving _someone else_ , the image lingering on in Sheppard's imagination even after he was awake. This put Rodney immediately on the defensive, and he babbled "crackpot alien" and "stupidest galaxy in the universe" and "I had to kiss you for your own good, okay?"

Sheppard seemed at a loss for a moment, and then his expression shuttered over. "Well, thanks, Rodney," he drawled bitterly. "Way to take one for the team."

Rodney once again could only blink in confusion, because it really sounded like…

He pictured with a pang of regret that soft expression Sheppard had worn only a few seconds before, and he blurted out desperately, "No, it wasn't—I saved you for last. _I saved you for last_!"

He stared pleadingly, and Sheppard stared right back, eyes narrowed in scrutiny, and then the hard line of his mouth softened into a grin. He pushed himself lazily up onto his elbow. "You've got a gift for strategy, McKay."

Sheppard leaned closer, closer, inch by excruciating fraction of an inch, until his lips hovered just over Rodney's, still grinning, hand cupping Rodney's neck, thumb stroking in circles. Rodney sighed heavily. Leave it to Sheppard to _always_ be a tease.

"Oh for—" Rodney grabbed Sheppard by the shoulder, and pushed their mouths together without the least bit of finesse. He could taste Sheppard laughing, and it was just lucky for him that they were kissing. Lucky that Rodney had wanted nothing more than to get a taste of him, laughing or otherwise, for a long, long time. Otherwise, Rodney might really have taken exception.

Sheppard pulled Rodney down onto the bed and pressed his face against Rodney's neck, thoroughly kissing this one particular spot that appeared to be his favorite. "Wouldn't leave you," he muttered thickly.

"Mmmm," Rodney moaned and stroked Sheppard's hair that was, wow, just as soft as it had always looked. As an afterthought, he felt the need to add, "I don't honestly think a bucket of water is going to melt the Wraith, but maybe we should test it, just to be sure."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow, as if inviting further explanation, but he didn't stop kissing, which, hey, was a strategy that Rodney could really get behind.


End file.
